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Exciting Fall Happenings

The Street Tree Project has been officially done for the summer since July, but make no mistake, our efforts to put trees on the streets of Hamilton are still going strong.
About a month ago, on October 4, one of our summer volunteers, Anna (who was also a part of the Cable 14 feature of us!) took a group of students canvassing door-to-door again in Crown Point.

Over the course of the summer, OPIRG's StreetTree Project had spoken to organizers of the McMaster Student Success Center's annual MacServe Day of Learning. The Day of Learning allows McMaster students to sign up to spend a day working with a group on a service project. MacServe offers a variety of placements, all including some introduction to the area or program with which students will be working, and following up with a debrief afterwards. As one of the options that students could sign up for this year, the StreetTree Project drew some more attention from students, spread the word about free trees in Crown Point, and signed up three more residents for a Street Tree!

Outside of the McMaster community, the StreetTree Project is also being taken up by residents of the Crown Point neighbourhood. Some residents expressed an interest in expanding the program in their community, so we met with Anne, who lives in the Crown Point neighbourhood, Rosy, who owns Narula's (a really delicious Indian restaurant in Crown Point which you should definitely check out!), and Giuliana, from the Hamilton Naturalist's Club to discuss how we could make that happen.

Rosy generously offered up her restaurant for the meeting, and exciting things have been planned for the future! We decided that we will hold a volunteer orientation at the end of November. The Naturalist's Club has a goal to increase green space in Crown Point, the OPIRG StreetTree project is aiming to help people find out about free StreetTrees that can be requested from the City, and the people who live and work in the community want to see their neighbourhood beautiful and healthy! Working towards a common goal, we're planning to host a volunteer orientation session towards the end of November for anyone interested in promoting trees in their neighbourhood! Keep posted for more information and to stay involved with the tree excitement in Crown Point!

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2016's Street Tree Project coordinator Hannah Walters-Vida gave a report to the city of Hamilton's Public Works committee October 31, 2016, reporting on the successful outreach that garnered 62 new street trees in a section of ward three.

Over the past four summers, we have added over 200 street tree requests in neighbourhoods with higher than average mortality rates due to air pollution. The free street trees will contribute to improved air quality for generations to come.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the project in one way or another over the years.

The Street Tree Project is looking for summer volunteers to
help with door-to-door canvassing to promote green space in Hamilton! The Project
The OPIRG Street Tree Project aims to plant trees in areas
of the city with poor air quality and minimal urban canopy. The city offers
free trees to be planted on any property, but many people are unaware of this
initiative. Now in its fourth year, the Street Tree Project uses door-to-door
canvassing, events, and social media presence to encourage people to make
requests for trees to be planted on their property.
This year, we will be focusing on the Landsdale, Gibson, and
Stipley neighbourhoods of Hamilton. The project will last from mid May to early
July. Volunteer
ResponsibilitiesTraining:
all volunteers must attend a training session prior to beginning any work.Canvassing: volunteers will go door to door encouraging residents to place requests for trees on their property. Volunteers will be thoroughly trained and can expect to canvas in pair…

This year the Street Tree Project will be targeting the Gibson area! Heading out to the neighbourhood for the first time with the now experienced Street Tree Project Leader Randy Kay, we were able to assess the area more comprehensively than with Google maps. Starting from Barton St. East, we made our way Northwards up Gibson Avenue. Our first reaction of the neighbourhood was how much potential it had to become greener. Plot sizes were generally decent, with a few that might be too small to have a tree planted there,but it was clear that the street could be made much more beautiful with an overhanging tree canopy. After talking to one of the neighbours, it seemed that because of the small plot sizes, most people would be more receptive towards smaller trees. Considering that the most popular requested tree has been the Amur Maple (growing up to 5-8 meters in height), this was not very surprising.
Additionally, there were other neighbours who seemed to be interested in the idea of a…